Mapping Identity through Research: Story, Self, and Society

Faculty Advisor: Assistant Professor, Queens University of Charlotte; Ph.D. in Romance Languages, Literatures, and Linguistics, University of California, Berkeley

Program Start Time: TBD (meetings will take place for around one hour per week)

Research Program Introduction

Who are you, and what stories have helped shape who you’ve come to be (and in a constant process of becoming?). This program invites you to explore identity through research—not as something fixed or easily defined, but as something layered, evolving, and shaped by many influences: family, place, history, language, culture, and personal experience, just to name some of the most prominent. We’ll take a broad, interdisciplinary approach, drawing on literature, memoir, film, psychology, and cultural studies to better understand both ourselves and the communities we’re part of.

Rather than seeking a single definition, we’ll ask thoughtful questions: How do our identities grow and shift over time? What role do our environments—schools, cities, traditions, media—play in how we see ourselves and others? How can we listen to stories that are different from our own, and what might they teach us?

Along the way, you’ll build important academic and life-ready skills:

• Learning to read and analyze primary texts carefully

• Expressing your ideas in writing with clarity and confidence

• Giving and integrating feedback in a meaningful way

• Practicing research strategies to solve real-life issues 

You’ll also reflect on how your own identity fits into larger stories—personal, cultural, and even historical. This program is a space for curiosity, creativity, and reflection. We’ll explore key ideas such as individuality, community, representation, and intersectionality through texts and discussions that welcome many voices and perspectives.

By the end of the program, every student will have chosen a research topic and had the opportunity EITHER to write a comprehensive research proposal that can serve as a writing sample and that will help them pursue future research opportunities, OR to complete a creative capstone project connected to identity!

Project Topics

• How identity changes over time

• How places, traditions, and media shape how we see ourselves and others

• How can we learn from stories different from our own

• How personal identity connects to cultural and historical stories

• Individuality, community, representation, and intersectionality

Program Detail

• Cohort size: 10 students

• Duration: 12 weeks

• Workload: Around 3 to 4 hours per week (including class and homework time)

• Target students: 7-9th grade students interested in any area.